The 30 Commandments Of The MBA Admissions Game

Thou shall prepare for thy interviews: Everyone who makes it to the interview round for your target school is serious competition for you. If the ad com didn’t like them, they wouldn’t be there. Don’t become over confident in the fact that you’ve been granted an interview. For each of my interviews, I’ve embraced the very real possibility that I might not make it to the other side. I believe that my humility and acceptance of a possible negative fate in each case thus far has encouraged me to prepare in a way that really helped me to perform. My Wharton group interview result in particular was the result of tedious preparation. Even in the case of my Booth interview (which I thought fell flat), the interviewer later shared (after my acceptance) that they were extremely impressed with me (go figure). While I have no clue how my MIT interview will go, I can assure you that it won’t be taken for granted either.

Thou shall save thy money: As soon as you get an admit, EVERYONE will begin lunging for your wallet. Your school, the airlines, hotels, next year’s landlord, moving companies, your favorite men’s store/boutique. Start saving as soon as possible. Once you actually get that admit that you will have invested 6 months to a year or more vying for, everything will move very fast; and there will be a toll of some sort literally at every stop from that point until your very last loan payment is made. Believe it.

MBAOver30 offers the perspective of a 30-something, California-based entrepreneur who is applyied to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago, and MIT Sloan.. He has been offered admission into Class of 2015 from Wharton and Chicago and will be interviewing for Sloan. He blogs at MBAOver30.

Previous posts on Poets&Quants:

How I Totally Overestimated The MBA Admissions Process

Musings on MBA Failophobia

Letting Go Of An MBA Safety School

When A Campus Visit Turns Off An MBA Applicant

Yale, Tuck and Booth: The Next Leg of My Pre- MBA Research

My Countdown: Less Than 30 Days To The GMAT

From Suits To Startups: Why MBA Programs Are Changing

Why I’m Not Getting Either A Part-Time MBA or An Executive MBA

Preparing To Sit For The GMAT Exam

Falls Short of GMAT Goal, But The 700 Is A Big Improvement

A 2012-2013 MBA Application Strategy